This homage to those old grade school documentaries — nothing as scary or cute as this, thankfully — takes Twenty One Pilots from a one-camera lo-fi video capture of their first show to 12 lookie loos and on through to a pro-shoot of a massive two-night stand for 12,000 fans.
If that first day back at the office has you feeling a bit down, then this blast of workplace rebellion should do the trick... even if singer Tom Fletcher proves no more successful than Jerry Maguire at luring his mates to also walk out.
Paradise might just be a state of mind, or one of several settings on a display panel that serves as the backdrop for a series of dance performance across LA.
Despite the weeks of Christmas and New Years Eve being obviously bad timing to launch a video — unless it stars Santa, Baby New Year, or a monkey man — December boasts a very healthy number of stand-out clips...
Since it's New Years Eve and time is short, I've listed them here in reverse chronological order (which coincidentally flows together nicely).
The music video scene of the '80s seems perfect for comedy — clouds of hairspray, producers scarfing down speed like PAs attacking a Trader Joe snack mix, an A&R rep zonked out on 'Ludes, and Rick Springfield telling somebody to go fuck themselves. None of that may be present in director David Fincher's in-the-works HBO sitcom Living In Video, but easy money says we'll at least get some taste of that sort of mayhem.
The show isn't greenlit, but Deadline reports that there's a script, casting is underway, and that Fincher is confirmed to direct:
Set in 1983 Los Angeles, Living On Video centers on Bobby, a wide-eyed guy who drops out of college and drives to Hollywood with dreams of directing a sci-fi epic. He lands a job as a PA for a company making music videos. In the vein of HBO’s Entourage, the series revolves around the players of the then-exploding music video industry — directors, record executives and crew members, many of them dabbling in drugs — through the eyes of the newcomer.
Fincher, of course, has his roots in visual effects, before transitioning over to become arguably the most successful music video director, and now a leading feature film director...
It's not deliverance we're after in this new Lupe Fiasco, it's actual delivery... which is possible, but only with some harmless subterfuge and a long bike ride to the nice part of town.
